South Korea’s visa-free scheme for Chinese tour groups has ignited a partisan clash, fuelling concerns that weaponising anti-Beijing sentiment for political gain could undermine broader national interests.
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The launch of the programme drew sharp criticism from members of the conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP), who raised alarm over security and public safety.
Hitting back, lawmakers from President Lee Jae-myung’s ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) denounced such warnings as “xenophobic fearmongering”.
Lee Dong-gyu, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, argued that far-right politicians were leveraging the tourism initiative to stir hostility against the Lee administration, which sought to repair ties with Beijing.
“Some conservative politicians are using this as a chance to fuel anti-China sentiment and mount attacks on the Lee government,” he told This Week in Asia.
Myongji University political-science professor Jeong Hoi-ok said it was “quite disconcerting” that extremist and xenophobic rhetoric had become normalised among some conservative figures.